Mainland stocks yesterday failed to chalk up handsome gains on their first trading day of 2013, dampening investors’ hopes that shares would follow a rally on overseas bourses which occurred during the three-day break on the local market.

The Shanghai Composite Index inched up 7.86 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 2,276.99 following a 1.6 per cent rise on Monday, the last trading day of 2012.